Rick Brant #12 Electronic Mind Reader and #13 Scarlet Lake Mystery

In Rick Brant #12, The Electronic Mind Reader, Steve Ames asks for Spindrift's help with a top secret government project.  Two scientists who were working on the project have been hospitalized with broken minds, and no one knows what happened.  Rick feels that someone has infiltrated the project, even though no evidence of infiltration can be found.  The Brants worry that the scientists on Spindrift Island will be the next victims.

This book grabbed me from the beginning.  The plot advances nicely without any boring parts.  Even the scientific descriptions were brief enough not to be annoying.

It was nice having Barby and her new friend, Jan, take a role in the plot, even though their role was secondary.

I greatly enjoyed this book.

In Rick Brant #13, The Scarlet Lake Mystery, Rick and Scotty go undercover at Scarlet Lake, a top-secret rocket launch site.  A saboteur, known as "The Earthman," has caused several projects to fail at a great loss of money.  Meanwhile, expensive electronic parts disappeared around the time of each accident. 

The boys visit several casinos, although they do not gamble since they are not old enough.  I thought it was interesting to have scenes in casinos.

Some parts of the plot are a bit hard to believe, especially the climax.  The entire time I was reading the climax, I kept asking myself how likely it was that the events would transpire as they did.  I decided that some aspects were narrowly believable, while others were not. 

This is a very good book.  As with many other Rick Brant books, I found the early part of the book to be somewhat less interesting, although I still enjoyed it.  The later part of the book is outstanding.